Featured Case Study: American Cancer Society Uses AHRQ Resources To Support Cancer Screenings in Primary Care

The American Cancer Society is using AHRQ’s Primary Care Practice Facilitation Curriculum to train more than 100 staff members who work with primary care practices across the country. The organization reported after pilot training that facilitators were better prepared to help practices increase cancer screenings, including recommended screening for colon, cervical and breast cancers. Access the case study.

AHRQ’s Primary Care Practice Facilitation Curriculum

The AHRQ Primary Care Facilitation (PCPF) Curriculum is a new resource designed to help train practice facilitators--also called practice coaches, quality improvement coaches, or practice enhancement assistants--on how to take an evidence-based approach to quality improvement in primary care practices. This curriculum is the latest addition to the portfolio of AHRQ products that support the growth of practice facilitation.

The PCPF Curriculum is organized into five parts:

Use of Adult Education Methods in Teaching PCPF Core Competencies
Introduction to Practice Facilitation
Competencies for Practice Facilitators
In the Practice
Implementing the Care Model and Patient-Centered Medical Home

The PCPF curriculum supports the education and training of practice facilitators and can be used by organizations that want to build a practice facilitation capacity, including payers, independent practice associations, accountable care organizations, and advocacy groups. Designed to be used as a resource when preparing new and experienced facilitators to work with primary care practices, the curriculum can also provide an introduction to principles and techniques of clinical quality improvement that can be used to educate other health care professionals.

Select to access the AHRQ PCPF Curriculum.

Page last reviewed February 2016

Internet Citation: AHRQ’s Primary Care Practice Facilitation Curriculum. Content last reviewed February 2016. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/pcpf.html